I started working here at the beginning of July 2015. Before that I had been a volunteer with Fife Council's SDS team since 2011 helping out with the reference group, evaluation group, sub groups, training, the implementation board and more. From volunteering I have build up a sound knowledge of SDS having sat in on the training that social workers have received and being very involved in the implementation of SDS in Fife.

My background is in Community Education and I was part of the kirkcaldy youth work team for over ten years. I've also spent time working at Fife Society For The Blind, what was Glenrothes College and Castle Furniture Project which has given me experience of working with people with disabilities and/or additional support needs. I've also completed several hundred hours of volunteering for various different charities.

I got involved with SDS when I myself had an SDS assessment after being invited to join the direct payments pilot scheme. At that time the SDS team had not yet been set up and the assessment process is different from it is now. SDS has been a huge help to me and it has enabled me to become much more independent through employing a personal assistant so I do not have to rely on my family so much for help and support. I am very positive about SDS and giving people back choice and control over their support but am aware it isn't for everyone. I hope that my own experiences and my work with the SDS team will benefit my work at SDS Options (Fife) and individuals that are referred to the service.

If you want to refer yourself to our project just give us a call on 01592 803280 and a referral form will be sent out to you.

We would like to thank everyone for attending on the day and learning about our service and SOL Connect. It was a great day with lots of energy in the room and discussion going on. We hope that everyone took something away from the event and learned about how technology can be used as part of an SDS package and the benefits it can bring.

Thank you to everyone for completing and returning their feedback forms, here is a few graphs compiling all the results, it is good to see that the vast majority of attendees were able to learn something from it.

Presentations, questions & answers, feedback and videos from the day can be downloaded below.